DARKANGEL:Through the Looking Glass
by Jace1
Summary: COMPLETED:It's a different world, but the roles are reversed...meet Logan, Max and Zack like you've not seen them before. READ THE PREQUEL THEN THE SEQUEL
1. Memories of Manticore

Logan paced the floor impatiently. Max was late, again. He always kept her waiting, a quality in her he hated. It wasn't like time was a luxury for him, nowadays Max seemed to forget that. She had the resources, the intelligence and was really cute but she always missed dinner appointments, rendezvous times and god knows what else. Logan stopped, and tried to calm down. He looked out the window of Max's mansion and observed the people who walked around on the dirty streets of Seattle. The Crash had hit them all hard, but recovery was proceeding but very slowly, he had observed. Logan focussed his attention onto Max's house, it was really impressive, on the outside, but the inside was seriously messy. Max didn't hire a housekeeper, and never washed up any of her dishes, didn't tidy up or give a damn whether her two goldfish, Blinky and Bill, were alive or not under the strange green goo that had formed on top after months of not cleaning the tank out. But Logan sighed, and just let it go. He wasn't here to criticize her house, or he sloppy habits, just to pick up some information she had rooted out about Manticore.  
Manticore, Logan's thoughts wondered back to that, as they did most of the time. His team had been deep undercover now for three and a half years; it had been a very long time since he'd returned. The taste of freedom had tantalised his senses after a few weeks outside the confinement of Manticore, and after that he had craved more of it. So Logan didn't bother returning. He had no idea who was still out here, if any, and who had gone back to Manticore after the three-week period.   
  
It seemed to be a simple mission, a find and retrieve of a missing scientist who had skipped the country a couple of weeks before. Manticore was slow to react, Logan's line of SMS had just reached the completion stage, and they had no other ready soldiers to send. A Doctor Tinga Davis had disappeared after refusing to continue serving Manticore as the Chief Medical Operator, a job that meant the dissection of any faulty soldiers. Logan and five others (the only current members of the SMS line) were given all the equipment they needed and orders, then sent out into the field. Logan sat on a chair, remembering the last words spoken to him by the head of the whole Manticore operation:  
'You are Super Manticore Soldier number 1 Mark 01. You will bring these soldiers back, and if you do not, we will hunt you down and kill you as if you were nothing but a worthless dog'  
Logan shook as he remembered the greying man's words. Major Sketch was a hardcore man, a reason why he was placed in this business.  
  
"Logan? I am so sorry I'm late..."  
Logan snapped out of his daydream and looked up at a dishevelled young woman who struggled in, carrying two bags full of groceries. Both Max and the food were dripping wet, they had been caught in a storm.  
Logan stood up and took up the soggy paper bags, and dumped them on an empty work surface. He turned to face Max again, who was removing her wet overcoat, and then she took off her glasses to wipe the rain off them. Her black hair was tangled and clinging to her head in clumps, Logan noticed that her blouse and black trousers were also sticking to her body in places. He walked over and helped her place the heavy coat onto the radiator, then picked up her briefcase that she had dumped on the floor.  
  
"Logan...I can't apologise enough, I was caught up at the office again...my secretary was telling me about how her kids were coping after the Crash...she went for ages..." Max paused as her glasses slipped off her nose, "oh...then I had to go shopping...you know the prices nowadays are just awful.... oh, oh, yes, I got the papers too...there're in there..."  
Logan pulled the bag open, and sorted through the mess of files and papers, until he found a printout of a web site with a mark on top, which he recognised immediately.  
"This is it," he confirmed "the SMS line, their numbers exceed to over..." Max looked up from her shopping as Logan paused.  
"What? What does it say? I didn't have time to look at it before I left...."  
Logan read the paper over again. Then he spoke up, and raised his eyes to look at her.  
"Their numbers exceed to over 200. Three of the original six are still missing...we're presumed AWOL, and they are still looking for all of us..." Logan laughed, and then laughed louder, "they mustn't be doing a good job if they still haven't found us!"  
Max sat down by her computers and twisted her chair around to look at Logan.  
"Does it say who's still out?"  
Logan shook his head slowly, "no, it only says 'the group leader and two other of the SMS'"  
Max yawned and stretched. It had been a long day, and her woman's intuition told her that she wasn't going to get an early night.  
"So...where do we go from here?" she inquired. Her saucepan in the kitchen began to boil over, so she got up, and left Logan to consider that for himself.  
Logan thought that over. Where do we go from here? At least now I know how many of my team are out there...many less then I expected. I have to find them...somehow...  
  



	2. This is her life

Later that evening, after Logan had left, Max sat down on her chair in front of the PC. She worked for a local newspaper group known as the 'Streets of Seattle' under a different name. Max sighed. It was very difficult for her sometimes, when articles were printed on the first page under someone else's title. When she had first joined the paper six years ago, her late father had suggested it because of the 'fame' that was attached to her last name, Guevara. 'Knowing people nowadays,' he had said, 'they'll think that you bought you're way into the paper, and you pay someone to write your articles.' Then he had put his hand on her shoulder, and whispered to her; 'but I will always know, and will always be proud of you...' That was two days before he past away; he was caught in a car accident...Max could still remember how hard the next two months were for her after she was left with no parents to help her through it. Her mother had died shortly after her birth from lung cancer; Max had only shared two years with her, now she was on her own. She was old enough to look after herself, but what hit her hard was her mother was never there to see her grow up, and that was her father wasn't there to read her first story.   
  
But he was right about the fame thing, the Guevara name came with stories of the huge amounts of money her father made and how he allegedly had relations with a government official to get to the position of importance he did in his lifetime. Her father used to laugh at the stories sometimes, just to put a front on for Max. But she knew the articles hit him hard inside, one reason why she joined the paper, just so that someday, she could set the record straight. She knew how the rumours started, he was a good friend with one of the Senators of Seattle, and somehow the papers got hold of that and blew it out of proportion. Max always resented how something so superficial became so...deep and involved. But the papers gave the people what they wanted: scandal.  
  
Max shook off those thoughts, and began to plough through the archived compiled before the Crash. It lead up to the Crash itself, then the entries became few and far between. Max clearly remembered the day of the Crash, when the one of the US satellites malfunctioned, and sent erratic computer signals to the Pentagon, causing cataclysmic results. Thousands of files were corrupted, but it didn't stop there. The problem was transferred through the Internet to any computer with a connection, all over the globe. It affected anything with a computer, including nuclear power stations, telephone companies...the list went on. After the world started to manage the problems, governments all over the globe began to ask questions, but there was no evidence to point an accusing finger anywhere. It couldn't of happened by accident, but nothing was left to prove this. That was five years ago.  
Max sorted back through the files, to an article she remembered coming across when she first skimmed through the records. The computers at the present time were slow to sort and retrieve the articles from the papers archives, but it was still impressive that the Internet survived the onslaught of the Crash. It was funny that the Internet that was intended as a self-healing mechanism for the US, and it ended up destroying most of the world's online services.   
  
While that was taking it's time, Max leaned back in her chair, and put her hands behind her head. She wondered what was going through Logan's mind at the moment, actually, she thought, I wonder what he is thinking most of time. Max stared at the screen until her eyes watered. She blinked rapidly, got up and walked to the window. It was dark outside, but the storm of earlier was gone, leaving the sky clear. The scene reminded Max of how she and Logan met, and she found her mind wondering back to that moment.  
Max recalled the weather that night, for some reason. She was sleeping in her room on the top floor, and a large storm was building up outside. It had been raining hard for the past three hours, there had been little visible lighting outside, but thunder crashed about every few minutes, shaking the house. Max had been awake for the duration of the storm, she had curled herself up in her bed, and tried to sleep through it. The thunder continued to ring around the empty house, so Max got up and walked to the bathroom. It was slightly quieter there, but as Max washed her face, she heard a different noise, that of a scratching coming from downstairs. She walked into her living room, and Max quickly checked out the fireplace. It wasn't unusual for birds to get caught in the chimneystack and fall down through the various ducts that went off from the main tube. Nothing was there, an a strange hush seemed to of fallen all over the house. Max pulled back the thick curtain, and looked out to the front of the house. The storm had died down quickly, the winds had picked up and blown it out. The sky was clear again; small stars had just begun to peek out from behind the thin layer of clouds. It was calm all around, like the sky before the eye of a storm hits. Max lent heavily against the sill, but in a flurry of movement someone came up from behind and grabbed her hard by the face...Max wiggled about and tried to elbow her opponent in the chest but the attacker was strong, and in a flash they had thrown Max down onto her back, and she felt a foot pressed against her throat. The attacker was a man, young, in his late 20's she guessed. He had dusty brown hair; unfortunately his features were in shadow, so Max could not guess the rest of his face. When he spoke his voice was strong and firm, but had a touch of another emotion in it.  
  
"Scream, and I break your neck"  



	3. Light at the end of the tunnel

Max coughed, and a smile broke out onto her face. The man looked at her as if she were mad, then he released pressure slightly.  
"What's so funny?"  
Max stared squarely into the man's dark face, then she laughed.   
"You don't get out much, do you? Even if I did scream, no one would come running. It's a depression, no one really cares!"  
The guy now stepped forward, and Max could see that he had deep-set blue eyes, and a strong jaw, with slight stubble on the chin.  
"I need to stay here, this place is out of the way"  
Max laughed again, harder, and pulled herself up only to feel the barrel of a shotgun pressed against her neck.  
"Oh yeah, staying in a mansion won't attract any attention!"   
Max could she that further teasing would only get her in more trouble, so she lowered her voice and put a kind look on her face.  
"Who are you hiding from?" She asked, and in a bold move she pushed the gun away.   
The man moved back slightly, to sit on a chair. He continued to point the gun at her head, but she noticed his body had relaxed.   
"That is not your concern..."  
"Look. I'm a pretty easy-going person, hey I'm not even freakin' out when I have a double-barrel shotgun pointed at my head. I will help you, but you've got to trust me. Shooting me won't help, sooner or later someone at work will notice I've gone and come around here. No matter how 'good' you are, I am betting that you won't be able to hide my body, or yourself for that matter, while cops swarm all over this place, do you understand what I'm saying?"  
Max could see that the guy was in a tight spot; he hadn't through this whole hostage thing. She thought she had won, but the man kicked back the chair, dropped the gun and picked Max up by her neck. She was slammed against the wall, Max marvelled at this guy's strength. At this point she realised he wasn't any old fugitive off the streets.  
"What's your name?" He asked.  
Max strained for breath, but instead she blacked out.  
  
Max smiled at the memory. She was impressed with the way she handed it, after she woke up Logan spilled everything. Funnily enough, Max wasn't all that surprised that the US government had invested in human gene manipulation. A perfected soldier could do the work of ten, maybe twenty in battle; someone would of thought of this sooner or later. Max guessed that the Crash provided the perfect cover for an operation such as this, with things like the internet down it would be hard to track down and spy on it. So here she was now, two years later. Logan turned out to be a nice guy, but he had a temper that was quick to flare up and hard to cool down. She often pissed him off, especially when she was late to meet him.   
Max's computer flashed at her to say that it had separated out only two entries out of the many hundreds that were there. Max opened the files, only to be told that fragments of them had been deleted. Max cocked her head slightly, was this a cover up? It would make sense, these archives were open to practically anyone, and if there had been reported sightings of the fugitives from Manticore the operation maybe under threat from discovery. Max tried to open the record, but the computer refused to open it. Max dumped the file, and then moved onto the other. This one wasn't as badly damaged. Max's fingers flew over the keyboard as she transferred the file to her computer, and she quickly opened it before the computer could refuse to. Max gave a triumphant cry as it started to open, but her happiness was interrupted as the computer screen blacked off, and the lights went out.  
"Ah, s**t!" Max muttered, and slammed her hand down on her computer desk. "D@mn blackouts..."  
She kicked her computer once, then moved over to the couch. Max tried her phone, but that was out too. She reached for her mobile, deciding that she didn't want to be alone in the middle of the night when there was a blackout.  
  
"So, you found something?"  
Logan kicked his shoes off into a pile of papers, and lent back next to Max.  
She nodded as she sipped on a lukewarm cup of tea she had managed to boil up in a pan over the fire, which burned and crackled in the fireplace.  
"Yes, though one of the records was damaged so much that retrieval was impossible, the other was just about okay...I'm thinking cover up, you agree?"  
Logan sighed. This was a sight she didn't normally see, Logan always seemed so...unemotional.  
"I want to know something Logan"  
His exterior hardened again, as he turned to look at Max.   
"What?"  
"What was Manticore like?"  
Logan turned his head away from her. He got up, and walked over to fireplace, where he rested his arm against the hard stone, then placed his head on his hand.  
"It was hell."  
Max stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. She wished she could his face, but he was keeping it hidden.  
"It was the same day in, day out for all of my childhood. We had hand-to-hand combat training, we were forced to kill criminals from the age eight...then instruction on the use of firearms...we were disciplined, our serial numbers drilled into our heads, along with who we were loyal to...I lost most of my life to Manticore, I still have trouble believing I am home free..."  
"After so long in Manticore, why did you quit? It was your whole life...from what you've told me they drilled loyalty and discipline into your head pretty hard..."  
"I dunno...something just snapped into place. You're right, Manticore was my whole world, I was such a mindless soldier that I didn't think of what was outside of the fences just beyond Manticore forest. But after being released on a mission I found that there was so much out there to be explored, so many different people walking around that I didn't feel that...that...I just can't put it into words. It's like I wasn't being looked for all the time, I was just another face in the crowd. There was no schedule, no people to tell me what to do, I could be my own person," Logan paused, and muttered to himself, "and I didn't have to kill..."  
Logan turned back to Max, and sat down at the PC. He started to speak again, but the lights flickered back on, breaking the mood.  
Max, suddenly uncomfortable, stood up and shooed Logan from off the chair.  
"I'll get back on that file thing, I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"  
Logan nodded, and put his shoes back on. He headed for the door, but stopped when Max said:  
"Sleep well"  
"I don't sleep" Logan replied, and started to smile. He caught himself before Max saw, and he walked out.  
  



	4. Blind faith

Next morning the bad weather had settled, Max woke up late sitting at her computer. The electricity had come back on around 4:00am, and she had been asleep at her keyboard since then.  
The file flashed an error message at Max, and made a loud bleep. She woke up with a start only to find that her vision was blurry. She felt around for her glasses, and stared at the computer screen as all the colours merged together to make sense. It was time to call Logan.  
  
The printer clicked and whirred as a printout of the damaged record came out. Fragments of text were missing, but a picture was intact, along with a fair chunk of writing. Logan rubbed his eyes, and read through.  
"Do you need to borrow these?"  
Logan looked up at Max, who was waving her glasses around at him. He gave a slight smile, but looked down at the picture. It was fuzzy, probably because the photographed SMS was trying to escape. Logan's eyes zoomed in on the rushed blur, and found that he could make out a 'tag' the person had branded on his/her upper shoulder.  
"I know who it is," he said quietly. Max looked up from her readout, and walked over to Logan.  
"How? The picture, it's impossible to make out..."  
"It's not when your eyes can focus into a picture a 1/60 of an inch small"  
Max sat back; his tricks amazed her even now. Logan scanned through the text, and read out a paragraph to her.  
"...A strange girl was seen attacking a 30-year-old woman yesterday at Sandy Springs on the lake. She sent the woman to hospital with a fractured arm and a broken collarbone. However, the attacked woman refused treatment only to knock down a doctor and run out of the care unit..."  
"How do you know who it is?"  
"All Super Manticore Soldiers carry a branded mark on their upper shoulder, you know, like cattle had back in the late 1900's. It was SMS number 1 mark 03. We called her Cindy"  
"What are you going to do now?"  
"The only thing I can. Track down Cindy"  
  
LOGAN'S STORY  
  
Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can see myself marching down the empty corridors of Manticore. Like a nightmare all is black and dreary, sounds echo around my head with no mouth speaking them. I look down upon the child that was a mindless soldier through and through. The only times I was happy was back in the dorm rooms, when all six of us were together. Zack would rig up the security camera to film one part of the room only, so we could all group in the other corner to talk. Cindy and Brinn were best of friends; they were always smiling and joking together. Zack, Jace, Dennis and I were always talking about our recent walks in Manticore forest, and what we saw. I can't help but remember how excited young Dennis was at seeing a big black crow fly down in front of him. It saddens me to think that they are still back there, confined behind the walls of Manticore.   
As we grew older together we drifted apart slightly. Cindy and Brinn stayed as good friends as ever, but over time Jace became an outsider, she was trained by herself sometimes. A mysterious woman always came to see how Jace was getting on, we never found out who she was. However, Zack, Dennis and I always tried to keep on good terms. That was what kept us going through the long hours of training and being screamed at by Sketch.  
I know that I owe them a lot. I owe them my sanity. So after I hook up with Cindy and the other escapee we are going to bust our brothers and sisters out of there, somehow.   
  
I didn't ask to be an experiment. I didn't ask to be faster, stronger or smarter than the average bear.  
  
MAX'S STORY  
  
I admit it, but only to you. I like Logan. I mean, who wouldn't? A strong, smart and cute guy like him is desirable for a single woman. But he is tormented by inner demons the likes of which we 'average' humans cannot fathom. He has his family to save, the people still stuck back in that hellhole of a place. Experimentation on humans is just wrong, messing with nature is wrong. Those people are playing god with children who could of lead a nice, ordinary life. But on reflection, who would want to swap the fantastic abilities they could have for a weak body such as this. I wouldn't mind having great eyesight so I can dump these glasses...  
I don't know how I can help; coming along on his crusade may slow him down, although he could use my resourcefulness in tracking Cindy down.  
I have my own problems however. My boss, Herbal, has been on my back all week. I agreed to write a follow-up article on one I did a couple of weeks ago, but I just haven't had time. He's been leaving phone messages every hour on my mobile; I just delete them every time.   
Herbal is a strange little man. He's really quiet one minute, then he's yelling in your ear the next. He seems to have a limited vocabulary too. Either it's 'bip bip bip!' or 'I don't pay you people to stand around and talk like dat!' He's really cheap too. Wears the same suit everyday and the same bad smelling perfume too, that's why we nicknamed him Herbal: he always stinks of flowers. His co-editor-in-chief isn't as bad; his secretary calls him Normal, because in comparison to Herbal, he is.  
  
I wish that my life wasn't so dull; when all I have to talk about are the people I work with. I should tag along with Logan.  
  
MAJOR SKETCH'S STORY  
  
They're still out there...laughing at me, I know it. They think they've won, but they're so wrong, so very wrong. I trained them, I catch them. Before the board lay into me for losing them, I've kept the fact that they disappeared in the middle of a mission a secret. The fools upstairs think this is all part of the mission briefing, being deep undercover with no contact, god I'm good.  
I must say that I am disappointed with mark 01. He had potential, the leadership skills and intelligence to go far in this operation. He was the first of them all, one of the unique SMS. The other two surprised me when they went AWOL, it seems that mark 01 had a bigger influence on his group then I thought. The other three have been through rigorous training to iron out any rebellious tendencies in them too. Mark 02 has been resisting, but he always took after mark 01. The rest have been fairly compliant, though until the rogue three are brought in, they will not be loyal to Manticore, but to mark 01, mark 03 and mark 04.  
But that will still change. I've laid bait to reel my SMS in.  



	5. Road Trip

Max loaded up the car with supplies, and unclipped her laptop from the power point. She was going to be on the road for a long time, so she put on the answer phone and dumped any food that had the potential to go mouldy in the dumpster out back. She had packed several suitcases of clothes despite Logan's objections. But her blue Aztec was used to huge loads, Max usually did heavy shopping trips.  
Logan put on some sunglasses, (which he convinced Max was just to prevent being identified) and put a couple of his possessions in the back. He didn't allow Max to look through them; she won't understand what they meant to him.  
Max walked up into her room and locked all the windows. She ran her fingers along the walls, and smelt her room. Max was sentimental about such things, something that Logan didn't understand. She looked around for a last time, and then went downstairs to lock the front door. Logan sat in the driving seat of her car; Max did her best to ignore that. She sat down in the passenger seat and watched as her house got further and further away.  
"Don't worry, you'll be back in no time" Logan said, in a light manner. Max was glad that he wasn't in a gloomy mood otherwise this road trip would be a long one...  
  
Max hooked her laptop up to the car batteries, and used her inbuilt telephone connection to log onto the net. An online website gave a pretty good route, even though it went through three major cities and involved four days on the road. She received an e-mail from Herbal, informing her that she would lose her position in the paper if she didn't hand in an article in the next five hours. Well, Max thought, I have the time for it. She pulled up a word processing program, and started typing.  
  
By the time night fell, Max was asleep at her computer. They'd been travelling for three hours, not long by Logan's standards but Max had been staring at a computer screen for a long time. Even her glasses had slipped off. Logan slowed down to a stop on the side of the road, and looked at her article. It was done, so he sent it to her boss and turned off the laptop. She looked so peaceful when she slept; Logan brushed a piece of hair off her forehead, and got out of the car. He filled up the dirty Aztec, and bought food for the road. Everything was so quiet as night...Logan could see in the distance two deer by the side of the road, which ran as soon as they heard a car drive down. There was lush green vegetation everywhere just teeming with wildlife. Fireflies swooped around the car, and a bat settled in a tree as he went past. This is what Logan noticed more now he was allowed to roam free, the variety of animals that inhabited this earth. He saw thousands of different creatures every week that Max helped put a name to, and he itched to discover more.  
Logan rubbed his chin, and ran his fingers through his short hair. There was so much out there to be discovered, and he would do it with his family next to him.  
  
The sun came up early the next morning, and Max woke up to it shining in her face and someone talking into her right ear. Her eyes focused and she saw Logan had the radio on.   
"What time is it?"  
Logan looked at the rather dishevelled woman and took the next right.  
"It's eight thirty, I'm pulling into a motel for a couple of hours, I need to eat something besides Twinkies and M & M's. You can take a shower."  
Max looked for her laptop and found it stowed in the compartment in front of her.  
"Was the article in on time?"  
Logan nodded.  
"I think you sent it before you fell asleep, I just switched off the computer because it was draining the battery on stand by."  
Max smiled inwardly. He wasn't a very good liar.  
  
Logan walked along the breakfast buffet, piling his plate full of food for Max and himself. A couple of people stared at him strangely, and tried to get a good look at his face. Logan avoided their gazes and put his sunglasses. He waited for Max on a table near the corner, wishing she would hurry up.  
Max basked in the hot water that ran from the shower above. It washed off all of the morning impurities, and ran shampoo through her hair. Max was reluctant to get out of the shower, but a knock came at the door.   
"Room Service!"  
Max sighed. She pulled on a sweater and some pants, and rubbed her hair dry. She looked through the eyepiece, but no one was there. She saw a trolley, so she undid the latch and stepped outside.  
"Hello? You can go in now"  
A noise came from behind her, and someone hit her hard on the back of the head. She blacked out, with the hazy image of a man in front of her.  
  



	6. They're coming...

Logan swallowed the last of his breakfast, and looked for Max. She had been in the shower for ages, and he was starting to get impatient. He looked out the window, only to see it smashed into pieces by a masked man. Logan jumped to his feet, and saw that the man now advancing toward him had a tag. It was an SMS...but his brand read number 3 mark 31. Logan's eyes boggled, he was unaware that there was a new line. Logan jumped to his feet, and met a blow to his face with a block. He went on the offensive, and kicked the SMS hard in the chest. Then Logan chocked him, and threw him over his head. The SMS sunk to the floor after hitting the wall hard. Everyone had evacuated, so Logan jumped over all the tables to crash out the door. He looked around, bloody and angry, and then he saw Max being loaded up into an unmarked van. Logan yelled, and leapt high over the van. He spun, hit a surprised man in the face, then he grabbed Max by the middle and ran like a football player back to the Aztec.   
He was surprised to see that they hadn't touched the dirty blue car, so he loaded Max up in the passenger seat, and climbed in after. He revved the car up into third gear and roared out of the motel car park. He headed down the highway, and pulled the car off onto the hard shoulder.  
He pulled Max's head up, and observed a purple bruise on the back of her neck. He cupped his hands around her chin and spoke gently to her.  
"Max, please Max speak to me..."  
Max eyes flickered open, and she groaned and held her head.  
"Ahhh..."  
Logan smiled as he searched around for Max's spare glasses. He passed them to her, and helped her straighten her neck.  
"It hurts" she said, her neck was extremely stiff and it didn't want to move. Logan lent the seat back to Max could lie down, and he felt his own forehead. The SMS had drawn blood.  
"Are you okay? Who were those people?"  
Logan drove off to the side, and continued towards Sandy Springs.  
"That was Manticore. I don't know what hit you, but I was attacked my one of my own."  
Max turned her head to look at Logan, but then a sharp pain snapped her head back into position.  
"Move it gently, don't let it seize up. But at the same time it wasn't one of my line"  
"Your line?" Max whispered.  
"Yes. You see, Manticore started out with six of us Super Manticore Soldiers, that's where 'SMS' comes from, but we were all number 1 mark whatever. But the person who attacked me was a number 3 mark 31. That means that there are different lines, number 2 line, number 3, dammit I don't know how many there are of them."  
Max made a slight noise to indicate that she was listening, so Logan continued.  
"I don't know how they found us. I can only presume that they are tailing us now. I have to check the car out somewhere, can you get to your laptop?"  
"Yes, just connect it up for me"  
Max busily typed as best she could, but in a horizontal position that was difficult.  
"Okay, there's a small town about 20 miles from here, the turning isn't far."  
Max yelled loudly as Logan placed a cold flannel on the back of her neck. Her hands failed around madly, hitting Logan in odd places. His reflexive action was to hit Max on the cheek with the back of his hand, causing her to settle down slightly. She yelped, and grabbed his other hand.  
"I'm surprised that you aren't concussed, you know"  
"You have a lousy bedside manner, Logan. I just want to sleep"  
"Go right ahead. I'm just going to take all the stuff out of the back of the van and search through it"  
Max stared at Logan.  
"Why?!"  
"We're probably bugged."  
Max got up. She wasn't going to let Logan tear her stuff apart, even if she had a bad headache.   
  



	7. Feelings

MAX'S STORY  
  
I feel like someone's hitting my head with a stick, my temples are throbbing. I'm starting to think that this trip wasn't such a good idea.  
Logan's going methodically through my stuff, but he's leaving the tightly sealed suitcases alone, they haven't been jacked open or anything. I'm just letting him do it while I sit and watch.   
What if this Cindy woman isn't anywhere near Sandy Springs? No person being searched for by mysterious government officials would stay if they had been sighted. Although, Sandy Springs is a pretty large place, plenty of small outcroppings of houses and a big town centre. Logan is hopeful though, I guess that he wants to see some of the people he grew up with again, his 'family.'  
Logan and I seem to be getting closer, something I don't mind. He just doesn't want to show emotion, like it was a sign of weakness. But that is what makes us what we are, as normal humans. I bet the SMS had that drilled out of them when they were kids though.   
  
Whatever happens, I'm going to be there for Logan until he finds his brothers and sisters.  
  
LOGAN'S STORY  
  
Boy, Max likes to over pack. There's nothing here funnily enough, a strange move by Manticore. Max looks like she's in a world of her own, I feel bad at bringing her into this...I was the one who forced her to hide me from the Manticore patrols, and now I was the one to get her knocked in the head by a Manticore flunky.   
Max is a valuable resource to have, but I never get around to tell her that...something which I regret. I bet that she's having second thoughts about this trip. Dammit, even I am!  
Cindy may of moved on, she may have been killed or been taken in...  
I should shake off these ideas. Wherever she is, I'm going to find her, and together, we will take our family out of the prison that is Manticore. I'll show Dennis what the real world is like, explain to Zack that there is more of a life outside the confinement, show Jace that Sketch's word is not law, and finally give Brinn and Cindy the knowledge that they will not be punished if they're friends.   
  
I'm their big brother; it's my duty to help them break out. This I promise to them...and myself.  
  
Back on the road again things were looking better. Logan was in a good mood, feeling that by vowing that he will help his friends it makes the dream of freedom sound more realistic. Max's neck was easing up, but what she would give for a hot bath.  
"Logan...can you reach back there and pass me that blue bag? I need an aspirin..."  
Max lay back in her seat again and closed her eyes, expecting Logan to dump a bag on her lap. When he didn't, Max opened one eye to look at him.  
"C'mon Logan, I am not in the mood for jokes"  
He nodded his head toward a large building on the left, provoking a wide smile to appear on Max's face.  
  
"Welcome to the bunker"  
Logan pointed Max in the direction of the bathroom, and where the bath was. He had spent the first year of his free life in this small, slightly rundown room, part of an abandoned hotel. Everything was just where he left it, everything being a pillow and a couple of folded sheets on a bed. There was a couch and a small kitchen with no food in it.  
He heard the water run, and a comment from Max that the hot water was still on. There was a splash, and Logan sat down. Then a blood-curdling scream echoed around the bathroom and a dripping wet Max came out, holding a towel to her body.  
"There's...a huge...spider...in...there"  
Logan started to laugh, but when he looked at Max a wave of pity came over him. He walked over to Max, her body now shaking from the cold. He gently pulled to towel up over her shoulders and held her.  
"I'm sorry...I'm slowing you down..." she whispered to Logan, who sat her down on his lap and slowly massaged her neck.  
"You're not...look Max, I owe you a lot. I know I never tell you, but I would probably be dead if I hadn't met you. You are important to me Maxy. Please understand that."  
Max bent her head around slowly, and rested it against Logan's chest. He hugged her frail figure then shifted slightly so he was sitting next to her. She looked around to him and inched her face closer to his...but stopped just before their lips touched. Logan brushed his against hers, and then twisted his face away.  
"You take the bed, I'll rest on the sofa," he said quietly. "I'm going to scout the area, and pick up anything I find useful...you'll be okay here for a while, right?"  
Max nodded, and drifted up off the sofa. She pulled a sheet around her body and folded herself up. She felt stupid...and awkward.  
Logan got up and walked out of the bunker. Max looked up as he went, and felt emptiness inside she couldn't explain...  



	8. The Truth must be told

"MAX!"  
She woke up with a start to see Logan burst in the door.  
"We have a problem!"  
Max dressed quickly, and gathered up the possessions left in the bunker. She sprinted out of the room, and locked it behind. Logan was in the Aztec, and he started up the engine as she piled into the car. Her neck had locked slightly, but that was the least of her worries as Logan pulled out of the derelict car park, and pointed at the highway.  
"You see"  
Max stared as she put her glasses on. There were three barricades blocking the road, and a helicopter swooped overhead. Over thirty soldiers were hanging around in groups, and Logan could see five SMS were in a jeep; none of them were familiar to him.  
"It seems that they've sent out a welcome wagon," Logan said. He pulled the jeep over, and drove it to the back of the parking lot.  
"How are we going to get past them?"  
Logan grinned.  
"Just watch"  
Logan slammed his foot down on the accelerator, and the car leapt forward as if possessed. It ran towards the end of the lot where it ran into a steep slope, but at the last minute Logan slammed his foot on the brakes and pulled the car off to the left. It rolled down the hill, throwing Max around. She held on, and screamed as Logan again accelerated causing the car to spin around back onto its wheels. He headed down the now slight slope and the car roared as he threw it up into 6th gear. The car past the barricade on the other side of a row of trees, and as soon as they were far down enough Logan pulled the car back onto the main road.  
"Logan!" Max yelled, "great. Now you've made the Aztec all dirty!"  
  
There was an awkward silence in the car as it sped down the road. Logan was continually on the lookout, suspecting another blockade. They wouldn't leave it alone, he knew that. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Max was staring out the window, craning her neck trying to get it working again. He wanted to apologise, but the words failed him.  
  
LOGAN'S STORY  
  
I think I've endangered Cindy by coming. They must know where I'm heading…they must know I'm meeting someone…  
Well, we've come this far. Max would be really pissed off if we turned back…!  
But when I reach far down inside, I know that she's still all right. There's a bond we all share and I honour that. I believe that one day we will all be standing on one of the lush green fields, watching the sun dip down below the horizon. Hand in hand we will be together for now and for eternity.  
We will triumph over all adversity, fight our enemies as one, and die as one. If Manticore taught us anything, it's that we are meant to work as a unit, as one single mind. When I truly realise that that is when I find the strength to destroy the castle that is Manticore and all the knights that protect it.  
  
  
The road rolls out in front of the Aztec as night falls once more. Rain falls everywhere, and streetlights illuminate the water that drips down outside. Max was awake, moving her neck slowly from side to side, as Logan pulled over to a service station. The Aztec was running dry, and as he walked into the shop he looked back at the strongly defined shape of Max, who was stretching her legs. He regretted the uneasiness that had made a void in-between them, and he realised his own feelings for her. He longed to hold her and tell her that it would be all right, that one day they both would be able to stand up and no longer hide.   
  
Max breathed in the air of the night as she walked over to the edge of the petrol pumps. There was a sharp dip, and from here Max could see cars drive quickly beneath her and over the farthest point she could see. The moon was just peeking over the clouds, and it's light smiled upon Max who basked in its glow. Her eyes were closed, and she felt so light that the air might carry her up and take her to a place of safety and warmth.  
There were animals scurrying around below, a fox poked its nose out over the bushes, and then quickly ran away as a bright headlight drove off the highway and onto the side. It was a large armoured car, but Max didn't wait to look who emerged. She ran over to the shop and removed Logan from inside. They got into the car in a fluid movement, and drove slowly down and back onto the main stretch of highway. There were five units coming up the road and Logan moved the car up into fourth gear. He drove smoothly away, until the headlights of the Manticore jeeps had ducked beneath the edge of the road behind. Without a word, he indicated to another gas station were two cars were parked, lights still on and the engine running. He looked into Max's eyes and whispered to her that they had to leave the Aztec behind them. She nodded, and took a bag out of the back. Logan parked the car in the bushes, well hidden from the road. They walked normally up to a large range rover, and got into it. Logan drove the car out of the stop as of it was his, and then as they turned onto the motorway again they saw the Manticore cars drive past.   
"The hunters have now became the hunted…"  
  
They followed the units until daybreak. By this time the people inside must have figured that the Aztec had moved onto a different byway, so they pulled off at the next town they past. The range rover passed them without provoking a response, and that's when the mood inside changed. Logan laughed with joy and smiled at Max.  
"We are on our way, we've lost them!"  
Max smiled, but something inside told her that this was only temporary…  
"C'mon Max, you feel like a cooked brunch?"  
  
Max and Logan were only a few hours away from Sandy Springs, and Max could see the excitement in his eyes as they eat pancakes at an out-of-town bar. She wanted to tell him that she shared it too, but something inside just didn't feel right…when she had first researched the articles the method of deletion had been the same on both of them, indicating that the same people did it. But why would they leave one only slightly damaged and the other completely ruined? Unless…unless they were walking into a trap!  
"Logan," Max began and his bright eyes met hers, "what if, what if that article was planted there, so one of the SMS looking for it would find it and make their way there, only to find nothing?"  
Logan's blue eyes dimmed slightly. He dropped his fork, and looked squarely at Max.  
"What are you saying Max? That Cindy is in fact somewhere else and this is all a scam? Don't you think I know that? I have considered all the possibilities, and I can only come to one conclusion: That I have to try. If I do walk into a trap I will be alright, and I know that you have the sense to get out of there if it should turn out that this is all a lie."  
Logan paid the waiter and walked out. He knew that Max was trying to help him, but sometimes she just got in the way.  



	9. Family reunion

The sign for Sandy Springs came up, and Max got onto her laptop.   
"Check out the town's mall area first. It's in the centre of town, it seems…"  
Logan, who turned toward the outskirts instead, interrupted Max.  
"No, she wouldn't be there, I know it. I'm going to try here first"  
Max sighed and was about to shut the computer down when Logan stopped. He looked at her and without a word he kissed her on the lips. His eyes met hers and all the love he felt for her was reflected in them. Max held Logan as she had always wanted to, and they hugged for what seemed to be an eternity. He released her and whispered the words 'I love you' into her ear. He laid Max back onto the seat and he got out.  
"I want you to leave Max. Manticore could be here anywhere, I don't want you to get hurt because of me…"  
Max shook her head.   
"I am going to meet her. I am going to stay with you forever, I promise."  
Logan smiled, and walked over to her side and opened the door. He kissed Max again, and held her body closer then he had done before.  
  
"I'll ask around, you stay here"  
Logan walked off into a broken down slum, one of a line all with people sitting crouched outside. She wanted to help, but something inside told her that that idea wasn't such a good one. As she looked around she saw a blur in the corner of her eye, then as she turned someone past her again, but in the other.  
"Logan…"  
He walked out to see Max looking around.  
"What is it?" He started but a noise from behind alerted him to the presence of another who was here…he turned and blocked a punch which came from a tall, brown girl with light brown hair.   
"Cindy!"  
Logan looked upon her with so much joy that he felt his heart to be light.  
"Logan…" the woman said and she hugged him close and kissed him on the cheek, "I can't believe it's you…I thought that it was another Manticore soldier…oh honey it's so good to see you again!"  
Max watched as Logan talked to the tall lady, and she waited for him to remember that she was still here.  
"Oh Cindy, this is Max…she helped me find you"  
Cindy gave a smile, slightly wary but who could blame her. They shook hands, and Max marvelled at her strength.  
"It's nice to finally meet one of Logan's family"  
Cindy gave a warmer smile, and they walked over to the range rover.   
"Why are you still here? Didn't Manticore come after you when that report was made?" Logan asked.  
"Well yes. I moved out, and travelled around for most of my time. I hopped from city to city, in search of somewhere safe to hide. I saw so much, all the things I had missed when we were in Manticore…finally I came back here, figuring that they would be gone and that staying here would be too strange a move for them to anticipate. So, what do we do now?"   
Max opened the door to let Cindy in. She wasn't too sure herself.  
"Max, would it be okay if Cindy crashed at your place for a little while? Then we can sort something out"  
Max smiled.  
"Sure. We'd better get moving, because I want to pick up the Aztec!"  
  
Logan and Cindy talked and talked all the way back to where they had dumped Max's car, at times Cindy would inquire into how Max got involved. But Max felt left out, like she wasn't important to Logan now his family was by his side. She had a bad feeling like this was the last time she'd see Logan laughing and joking…  



	10. Alone

"Well, here you are Maxy! The Aztec is safe and sound!"  
Logan and Max climbed out, and Cindy followed. She walked up to the shop to visit the restrooms while they sorted out the car. Max hugged Logan and thanked him for getting her back in one piece. They laughed together, and looked up at the sun, which was setting. They held hands for a moment, but their peace was disturbed by a helicopter soaring above and the noise of police cars and jeeps approaching. Logan ran up the slope to find Cindy, but proceeded back down as a gun was placed to his head. Max screamed for Logan who yelled for her to get back into the car and drive away. His blue eyes were full of fear and sadness as he motioned her to get into the Aztec. Max jumped into the car and pulled out one of Logan's shotguns. She fired it in Cindy's direction, but missed twice. Logan, with tears in his eyes, told her to get out of there. Max witnessed as Logan knocked the gun out of Cindy's hands and punched her in the side. Somehow Cindy pushed him off and grabbed the gun. There was a shot, and Logan fell to the ground. Max screamed again for Logan to get up, to keep on fighting but as the gun was raised to her head Max jumped back into the car and drove away, drove faster then she had ever done before. Hot tears cascaded down her face and her heart cried out for Logan, his corpse was the last thing she saw before the Manticore units appeared. The lights of the cars streamed out into the night, marking a spot where a hero was neutralised. Logan had a dream that now he wouldn't be able to accomplice, the dream that one day his brothers and sisters would be free to walk around as they wished. Max continued to drive, her body numb and her mind aching. Her head tingled and thumped; her eyes were red and her lip raw from biting it. She felt so stiff, so lifeless, as if when Logan died part of her did too. It couldn't end like this, it couldn't…but she was one person, one person alone against the evils of the world around her. Alone…  
Max wanted to turn back, but something told her to keep driving, to get home in one piece…she didn't eat and only drunk to quench the aching in her throat. Her heart beat and her breathing was erratic. Logan echoed through her mind like a shadow of a dream, the aftermath of something fictional. Max felt tears come to her eyes again, and her body swayed. She was exhausted, but she wouldn't give in. Max drove for two days with only a brief stop to sleep, which she couldn't because of nightmares of Logan's corpse floating around in her mind and the expression on Cindy as she held up that gun…so she was right, Cindy had been placed there as bait to reel Logan or the other escapee in…the other escapee in, that's what she would do. Find the other SMS of Manticore…  
  
When Max finally reached home she got out of the car shakily, and opened the door with the last bit of energy she had left. She went upstairs and fell onto her bed, crying and holding her pillows to her face. She curled up into a ball and wept until all her energy gave out, then Max slept.  
At times Max would wake up in a feverish state, and that's when she would see Logan again. As a spirit who came and wiped her brow, telling her of how much he loved her. Logan would smile at Max and kiss her forehead so lightly it felt like a feather had tickled it. Max reached out for him, but he would melt away. Max then fell into a fit of tears, hating herself for allowing Logan to continue on…like a doomed soldier entering a battlefield where he knew he could never win. He once said that life was a game of survival, that some were born to watch the fight and others to fight the battle.  
  
Max slept for a day, and woke up in the early morning when the birds were chirping. She climbed into a bath, and scrubbed her dirty body clean, ridding herself of the past. The warm seeped into her pores and again she cried, not for Logan but for herself. There was a duty she had to do, before Manticore found out who she was and came after her. Max climbed out of the hot water and drifted downstairs to the kitchen and made coffee without thinking. Her brain felt frozen and she sat down in front of the TV in a bathrobe. It switched onto the early morning news, and showed Max what other people were going through just like her. But then she came across a news article, which spoke of eyewitnesses to a shooting on the state highway involving unmarked military units. They reported that a felon had been caught and neutralised, at that point Max smashed her hand down on the controller and threw it at the TV, which blinked off. Max cried quietly, and noticed that her answer phone was flashing a red light at her, indicating that someone had called her. Two messages were from Herbal, which she deleted, but another was from a woman, who withheld her number. It was recent too, left yesterday night.  
"Hi Max. I saw what happened on the news. I know whom you are and that you're involved with Logan, or were. I'd like to meet. I can't tell you my number now, and I know that you may have a hard time trusting me after he's gone, but please. We share similar interests…"  
Bleep. End of message.  



End file.
